Jon Eckhardt

Jon Eckhardt

Special Advisor to the Chancellor for Entrepreneurship

Pyle Bascom Professor in Business Leadership
Wisconsin School of Business

Schulze Distinguished Professor, Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation

Discovery Fellow, Wisconsin Institute for Discovery

jon.eckhardt@wisc.edu
(608) 265-5044

Biography

Eckhardt is guiding a team of researchers who are improving entrepreneurship and innovation in academia. He has taught in the undergraduate, MBA, Ph.D., and executive education programs. He is also the editor-in-chief emeritus at Entrepreneur and Innovation Exchange—an online publication bridging research and practice in entrepreneurship.

Dr. Eckhardt is involved in leadership, research, and business. From 2012-2019, he was the Executive Director for the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship where he revitalized the program, transforming it into a campus-wide program with an annual enrollment of over 1,800 students. This work included engaging alumni, fundraising, launching academic programs, and improving existing programs.

Dr. Eckhardt’s involvement in business includes roles as a cofounder of the gener8tor business accelerator, which has helped to build over 1,263 companies that have gone on to raise over $2 billion dollars in venture funding and employ over 10,000. He serves on for-profit and non-profit boards and advises on entrepreneurship, innovation, and the application of data science to business. He has given talks on entrepreneurship and innovation to business groups, including at business retreats and c-suite board meetings.

Dr. Eckhardt involves business leaders and entrepreneurs in his research projects. Dr. Eckhardt has won several awards for teaching and researching entrepreneurship, including a $50,000 fellowship from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and a Schulze Distinguished Professorship (2015-21) for establishing a record of scholarship that is making significant contributions to the body of research in the field of entrepreneurship.

Prior to becoming a professor, Dr. Eckhardt served in the U.S. Army, he analyzed fixed-income securities for Legg Mason Capital Management and Legg Mason Funds Advisor, and he worked in economic consulting. He is also an avid amateur cyclist. He enjoys debating the topics of the day while cycling with students, alumni, and fellow faculty up and down the rolling hills of South Central Wisconsin.

Eckhardt’s Wisconsin School of Business Faculty Page